These lofts are absolutely incredible if you're adaptable. The management is very communicative,…read morebut it is an older building with some issues and there isn't a large staff to attend to every small thing. The industrial heater is loud. There is no AC (I should note that I'm in one of the less ritzy units - others do have AC and probably updated heaters). Our ceiling leaked a bit, but nothing crazy. The floors are cement/stoneish, as the building used to be a brewery/warehouse, so there are some chunks taken out of it. Not necessarily a bad thing at all! But just know that when they describe a raw, industrial loft, you'll really be getting the raw and semi-gritty vibe. I love it, but it's not for everyone. Yes, I hear some complaints from other residents about things being fixed, but I have seen a ton of effort from staff (not only the building manager but maintenance as well), and the pros of living here are countless. You won't find this much space for the price anywhere else in the city, and it is worth it to be in such an amazing, artistic community, surrounded by murals. Trips to the Market for food on Saturdays or a quick beer at Eastern Market Brewing will become an easy routine. Parking is only $25/month. They throw a party on the rooftop for residents on Fireworks day, which is really amazing! I also love that residents are able to make the place their own (no strict rules on pets, painting, etc). The owner is laid back about that, and I feel very lucky to live here.

I'll separate review into positive and negative experience living in this place…read more Positive: residents are great and friendly. Lofts offer stunning views. The location is great. Never had any problem hearing other residents from our loft. Good security in the building. Negative: our shower was not working properly when we moved in. It took 2-3 weeks for them to fix it. Almost every month, they had to come in for a different reason. One time it was just to take pictures of the loft. So, if you have a pet then be prepared to be there or have someone watch over your pet. Communication with jim is just nasty. I had emailed him 2 months prior our move out to get an idea of move out procedure. He would not respond. During our moving out process we threw the stuff we didn't keep in the trash. He charged us 500$ for trash removal. This doesn't make sense because we pay a flat fee every month that covers trash removal. He WOULD NOT send us our copy of the lease no matter how many times we asked. He gave us a unit that has a washer and dryer that was left by previous resident. When we told him the dryer doesn't work.... He told us that WE need to fix it. When we moved out he charged us 150$ to fix the dryer. Why are we getting charged for something that didn't even belong to us and that was not even inspected by him when we moved in. On moving out day, I told him about issues with the loft. One major one is that ALL windows leak in air during winter. The personal heaters and his heating system could never keep place above 60 degrees. And during summer it would hit 90+ with no a/c. It made it unbareable to live in it. When I told him that he cussed me out and threatens to call the cops because he felt insulted about me bringing these issues before. Now, he refused to send us our copy of the lease and is refusing to give the security deposit back.

This apartment building was BEAUTIFUL! That's about most of what it had going for it. Here are a…read morelist of things that went wrong while I was a tenant here: - I paid extra to park in the lot, but half the time the gate was malfunctioning. Thus, I paid extra to not be able to access my vehicle because it was locked in the lot without the gate being able to open. I had to miss work/call out multiple times because I could not get my car out of the lot. So there's that. - I parked my bike in the basement, locked up, for the entirety of my lease. It was fine until the very last month, someone stole my seat and post off of my bike. I use my bike often, so this was a real blow to the security/safety of the building. - Maintenance was VERY helpful in the first month or so, then not so much. The drain in my bathroom sink would clog every three weeks or so, and then I would have to put in yet another maintenance request, and maintenance would take their time getting over to dump chemicals down the sink. A good snaking could have solved the problem, which I shared as feedback each time I had to submit a maintenance request, to no avail. - There were people living in a car parked out front for a while, which no one did anything about not did it add to the safety of the building. - There were homeless people that would get into the building (because every other day someone had the door propped open for no apparent reason) and I heard of another tenant finding a homeless person hiding in an unlocked closet on the second floor. That was a little scary for me, as I also lived on the second floor. - Further, upon moving in, I was sent the instructions for paying my rent online, only to have a quick email sent right after that retracted that - this is the only building owned by Optima Seward LLC that doesn't allow online payments, so I had to drive across town or mail my rent check every month, so it was hardly convenient. - Finally, upon moving out, I immediately realized I had left a single bag of clothes, my bike lock, and my helmet in the front closet of the apartment. I emailed the property management company within minutes of my realization to let them know, to beg them not to throw out my belonging (which is stated in the lease), and they said they would forward my number along to maintenance, which sounded helpful and hopeful. Yet, it's been 11 months, and maintenance has yet to reach out and the property management company has not responded to a single email (I've sent several to follow-up over the course of the last 11 months) since then, so I'm only assuming my belongings were thrown out, including a vintage pair of boots that I had just had refinished for $80.... - I'm the type of person that keeps to myself, doesn't complain a lot, and always pays my rent on time. I also kept a very tidy apartment. I have been moved to write this review after sending yet another unanswered email to ask about my (I'm sure trashed by now) belongings. - So, yeah, the apartment itself was nice, but everything else kind of sucked. Thanks for nothing, Optima Seward LLC!

I am currently moving out of here, just wanted a different location. My boyfriend and I loved…read moreliving here! Management was responsive and helpful. It is so old and charming (we personally didn't mind the occasional maintenance problem with pipes, etc since it's part of living in a hundred year old building). We'll always think of it fondly. From our beautiful moldings and pink tile bathroom to the stained glass panels on the doors. I'm so happy they restored this building and kept its original features.

they take your money and cook their books by taking money and applying it to things that are not…read moreyour responsibility. I moved in in January. I was told to pay a certain amount which was more than the amount of my rent when I realized it I confronted them and they decided there was nothing they could do since then they've been cooking their books, adding fees that do not apply and avoiding speaking to us in regards to all these matters. Do not move here!!!

Very convenient apartment buildings. It is right next to 696 and telegraph road. You can walk to…read moregas stations and grocery store if you want. They constantly update the buildings, the buildings are old but because of the constant renovation, it doesn't have many problems. Maintenace respond pretty fast as long as they are not short staffed like during covid. Since it is a concrete building, during winter you don't need to use a lot of energy to heat your unit, because concrete and bricks trap heat during the day. The problems are the dirty tenants. I kept my unit clean and still have some bugs craw in from elsewhere. Also if the trash Shute is full, they just leave trash in the trash room instead of bringing it down to the trash dump. If they smoke weed in their unit, and it can spread to your unit too. Security: they have K-9 unit 24/7 but they can't catch everything. Some dude unfortunately got rob, and someone tried to bring their friend with ankle monitor into the pool. It is in a nice part of Southfield, but crazies are coming from Detroit.

I moved into Water's Edge June of 2016. The apartments are beautiful and new and the location on…read morethe river is ideal (especially in the summer and spring). There is a new fitness center with an outdoor pool and 24/7 security with a gate to enter the community. The management company when I first moved in left a lot to be desired but over the last few months, the new management company has been incredible. Questions are addressed expeditiously, any concerns have been addressed and things are constantly improving. More events for tenants and all in all a better experience. I highly recommend it as a place to live, ESPECIALLY now that the management company is as good as the actual apartments.

The Albert is a 12 story renovated apartment building in the heart of downtown Detroit. It offers a…read morebeautiful plush lounge area, large outdoor terrace with gas grill, and fitness center. The apartments feature high ceilings, stainless steel appliances, porcelain sinks and much more. There is 24 hour concierge service and 24 hour emergency maintenance.

Terrible first impression. My boyfriend and I scheduled an appointment to view a unit, which we…read morewere very eager to see as we just started our search for apartments downtown. When we arrived, the lady responsible for showing us the apartment was not there. Let me mention that my boyfriend and I used our lunch hour to make this visit. After some confusion we were told that our appointment was at 1:00pm instead of 12:00pm. I would never schedule an appointment at 1:00pm because we would not be able to make it. Anyways, the front desk man asked if we wanted to come back later or another day - we said no - we had to get back to work. I asked if there was anyone else in the entire building that could show us the apartment....The man went to check and came back to inform us that there wasn't anyone available and the units weren't even in the condition to be shown yet...so why did the woman schedule the appointment with us in the first place? Overall, we were extremely frustrated with how the situation was handled. We are no longer interested in The Albert.

This is a perfect example of the "human error" in terms of business and why many of them fail, or…read moreat least should fail. As my mother is in need of an apartment in this area, I did some research and came up with a list of potential places and the Oxford House Apartments made it on - as an alternative. Very little information was available on-line, and fewer pictures still. There was a poorly written ad on Craigslist (which we all know to be such a trusted, and accurate source). To set up a time to see a unit I initially called and left a message on the apartment manager's machine on a weekday in the early afternoon. After hearing nothing back, I tried calling again just before 5pm that same day. No answer and so I left another message. The following day, I receive a call from the manager on site (Dave something, or other) who made no effort to apologize and agreed to show the apartment that day at 3pm. Later in the afternoon, about 1pm, I received a voice-mail stating that he was told by his boss (www.kaftancommunities.com) that he had to "go out to Kensington for an emergency" and that he would not be able to show us the unit until the next day at either 12pm, or 1pm. I called back and left a voice mail since no one has ever actually answered that phone (leading me to believe that he screens his calls to avoid bill collectors, or tenants complaints) and told him that Saturday at 1pm would have to do. The next day I called and left yet another message attempting to confirm our appointment for 1pm. By 12:50pm no return call was received and as you may have guessed by now, calling the same number still results in no answer. Keep in mind, this very well could be because the apartment community is so fantastic that there is a waiting list of people just to get in there and/or it's possible that the parent company generates so much income they can afford to throw away potential tenants with A+ credit and large incomes, however the fact that they advertise on Craigslist would lead me to believe otherwise. After driving by the apartment and seeing it in person, disenchantment is the only word that comes to mind. It is in poor condition (not untypical for Michigan these days) not too dirty, but obviously not well groomed, or maintained. We weren't actually able to see inside the entire unit of any apartment so it still remains to be seen what they're honestly like, but in case you couldn't tell by this review, we won't be doing business with this place, ever. As karma would have it, we ended up finding a much more suitable, cleaner and modern place for my mother at a more reasonable price with an attentive and competent property manager on site.

I have lived here for 8 months now. It is a nice place and everything they advertised. It is…read moreclean, quiet and the best spot I have found in Berkley for the price. The manager is attentive the 2 times I have needed him. It could use some updates to the apts as it is older, but the more updated places were more $. I would live at another of kaftans properties.